Syracuse Basketball: 4-star big-man target skyrockets in national rankings

Syracuse basketball coaches have offered a wide range of four-star and five-star prospects in the junior class, around 15 players in total. A lot of these Orange recruiting targets are point guards, shooting guards, wings and small forwards.

But another focal point for the ‘Cuse in the 2024 cycle is power forwards/centers. And my hope is the top of the list for Syracuse basketball coaches centers on a fast-rising big man from Philadelphia who is totally exploding in the national rankings for his class lately.

Four-star Thomas Sorber, a 6-foot-9 power forward/center, received a scholarship offer from the Orange around the time of the team’s annual Elite Camp last August.

He is a junior at Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia and runs on the AAU circuit with the Philadelphia-based Team Final in Nike’s EYBL league.

Syracuse basketball faces steep competition for four-star big man Thomas Sorber.

Recently, Sorber has put up numerous monster games for Archbishop Ryan. As far as I can tell, he is a double-double machine.

Some of his latest offers are from Villanova, Xavier, Miami, Seton Hall and St. John’s. Sorber’s offer sheet also includes Penn State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Georgetown, Providence, Mississippi State, Richmond, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Bryant, George Mason, Drexel and Albany.

According to media reports and recruiting services, Sorber took an unofficial visit to Penn State last September, and he was on an unofficial visit to the Hill this past August to compete in the Orange’s Elite Camp.

In a recent tweet, top scout Andrew Slater of Cerebro Sports said that Sorber is eyeing a potential official visit to Miami after the 2022-23 high-school campaign wraps up.

When On3 recently updated its 2024 national rankings, Sorber made one of the largest jumps around the country, going from No. 117 overall to No. 43 overall. On3 also rates him the No. 6 center and the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania within his class.

Sorber, whose hometown is in Trenton, N.J., checks in at No. 51 nationally and No. 8 at center, per ESPN.

The two industry-generated ranking systems, the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Consensus, rated him at No. 64 and No. 64, respectively, at the time of this writing. He’s a top-eight center and a top-four prospect in Pennsylvania, according to the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Consensus.

"Last October, in an article by 247Sports national analyst Dushawn London, Sorber had this to say about Syracuse basketball. “They have a great program. I like all the coaches and the head coach was telling me how they like to run stuff through their bigs. They run the pick and roll a lot and I see myself fitting in like a player you can play through. I can help the guards out a little bit if they get in trouble.”"

If we’re sizing up big men in the 2024 class who have been offered by the Orange, five-star Yves Missi has verbally committed to Baylor. Four-star Donnie Freeman didn’t include the ‘Cuse in his top five when he disclosed it last November, but new media reports state that Syracuse basketball coaches are in pursuit of him these days.

And five-star Derik Queen appears to be focused on other schools, such as Auburn, Indiana and Maryland.

As such, my fingers are crossed that Syracuse basketball can emerge as a significant and viable contender for Sorber. As he continues to shine for his AAU and high-school teams in Philadelphia, I could envision Sorber making a legitimate run at five-star status in the junior cycle.